No further postponement of elections, says Abdulsalami’s group

The General Abdulsalami Abubakar- led National Peace Committee for 2015 general elections yesterday assured that the forthcoming elections will hold as planned.

The committee spoke after receiving assurances that the elections will not be rescheduled from the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh; Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Prof. Attahiru Jega and the Inspector of General of Police, Suleiman Abbah.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting, which lasted about five hours, former Chief Judge of the High Court, Justice Roseline Ukeji, said the assurances extracted from the key figures was that the coming elections will hold as planned and will be free, fair and peaceful.

She said: “There is no fear of a further postponement because in any case there is no power in the constitution to further postpone the elections.

“They gave assurance that there will be elections on the dates set out.”

On the roles of soldiers during the elections, Ukeji said the group agreed with Jega that they will be there to provide security but will not interfere with process.

She explained that the role of the soldiers was unambiguous.

On the deployment of the card readers, she said from the report gathered on the test- run, the device worked perfectly.

The meeting also agreed on holding a town hall meeting with major stakeholders before the general elections.

This, she said, was to be on the same page with political actors on peaceful conducts.

Other members of the group in attendance at yesterday’s meeting include the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar; the Catholic Bishop of Abuja, John Onaiyekan; the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew kukah; Commodore Ebitu Ukwe(Rtd); Senator Ben Obi and Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, Yunusa Tanko, among others